Several discussion papers were considered by the committee. One discussion paper addressed current and proposed practices related to representation and use of standard subdivisions with extended or narrowed meanings, and displaced standard subdivisions. Our investigation of such subdivisions was prompted by two streams of inquiry—a set of questions posed by a group of Dewey Section classifiers preparing training materials (Michael Cantlon, Carolyn Turner, and Ruby Woodard), and our ongoing review of practices related to the representation of standard subdivisions in add tables. EPC approved the discussion paper on 281 Eastern churches for external review. We are seeking advice immediately from the Arabic, Greek, and Russian translation teams; we will also be seeking advice from other experts in Orthodox Christianity. Yvonne Jahns (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek), chair of the European DDC Users’ Group (EDUG) 340 Law Working Group, was a guest attendee at the meeting. She participated in the extensive discussion of various 340 Law discussion papers; the full 340 Law schedule will be considered at Meeting 133. Yvonne also presented “20 years SWD: German subject authority data prepared for the future.” EPC considered another set of discussion papers, including one from the EDUG 370 Education Working Group, focused on the 370 Education schedule. EPC reviewed revised proposals for updates to 372.3-372.8 Elementary education in specific subjects, and updates to levels of education in 372, 373, and 378. The full 370 Education schedule will also be considered at Meeting 133.

EPC also heard progress reports on Dewey linked data, mixed translation models, and ongoing efforts to use machine assistance in the development of the abridged edition. Thanks to the efforts of EPC member Welna van Eeden, a representation of the DDC Summaries in Afrikaans was added last week to dewey.info (Afrikaans is the tenth language represented in the service).

EPC scheduled a follow-up electronic Meeting 132A (to be held February 1-26, 2010), during which the committee will review the Editorial Rules for standard subdivisions; further work on the machine-assisted abridged model; updates to T1—0288 Maintenance and repair to address issues raised at Meeting 131; updates to the Table 2 provisions for Asia Minor, Turkey, and Switzerland; a possible expansion at 746.92 Costume to match similar provisions for clothing and accessories elsewhere; the updated history periods for Africa based on comments from outside reviewers; and minor updates proposed by the Swedish translation team. If necessary, we will split the meeting into two parts and schedule Electronic Meeting 132B (possibly as a webinar) at a later date. Meeting 133 will be held June 16-18, 2010, at OCLC headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.

November 17, 2009

The October / November 2009 posting of New and Changed Entries draws attention to new numbers for kinds of diets in the context of personal health (613 Personal health and safety) under 613.2 Dietetics. Here are examples of new numbers with sample works that could be classed in the new numbers:

The posting also contains relocations from 613.24 Weight-gaining diet and 613.25 Weight-losing diet (Reducing diet) to 613.28 Specific nutritive elements for weight gaining / weight losing diets focused on a specific nutritive element. With the relocations, a work on using a low-carbohydrate diet to lose weight is classed in 613.2833 Low-carbohydrate diet (Carbohydrate-restricted diet), not 613.25 Weight-losing diet (Reducing diet). An example of a work that now should be classed in 613.2833 Low-carbohydrate diet (Carbohydrate-restricted diet) is Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution: The No-Hunger, Luxurious Weight Loss Plan That Really Works! It has Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) “Low-carbohydrate diet” and “Reducing diets.”

With the relocation of diets focused on specific nutritive elements away from 613.25 Weight-losing diet (Reducing diet), which has the note “Class here . . . low-calorie diet,” the preference order for diets in the personal health context matches the preference order in the cooking for health context (641.563 Cooking for health . . . .). The entry 641.5635 Low-calorie cooking has two notes: “Class here cooking for overweight persons” and “Class cooking with respect to low carbohydrate, fat, protein content in 641.5638.” An example of a work covered by the class-elsewhere note is The New Eat Yourself Thin Like I Did! Quick and Easy Low Carb Cookbook, a cookbook with LCSH headings “Low-carbohydrate diet—Recipes” and “Reducing diets”; it is classed in 641.56383 Low-carbohydrate cooking, not 641.5635.

Historical works about the Berlin Wall can be narrow or broad with respect to both space and time. The Berlin Wall was not limited to Berlin; it continued in East Germany in former Potsdam district (T2—43154). The November 9 breach of the Wall, however, occurred in Berlin. Within Berlin (T2—43155 Berlin), the wall itself was physically located in East Berlin (T2—431552 Eastern Berlin), but a full account of the fall of the wall on the night of November 9–10, 1989, involves at minimum both eastern and western Berlin. Historical works that emphasize Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall are classed in 943.1550878 History of Berlin, 1982–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—43155, following instructions at 930–990 History of ancient world; of specific continents, countries, localities; of extraterrestrial worlds, plus 0878 from 943.0878 Germany, 1982–1990, following instructions at 01–09 Historical periods in the add table under 930–990). An example of a work classed in 943.1550878 is When the Wall Came Tumbling Down: 50 Hours That Changed the World; here is a description of the work: “Using never-before-seen footage, this compelling film shows what really happened November 9th–11th, 1989 during the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Historical works that treat both parts of Berlin but cover the full period of the Berlin Wall are classed in 943.155087 History of Berlin, 1945–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—43155, following instructions at 930–990, plus 087 from 943.087 Germany, 1945–1990, following instructions at 01–09 in the add table under 930–990). An example of a work classed in 943.155087 is The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961–9 November 1989.

Historical works that emphasize East Germany at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall are classed in 943.10879 Period of East Germany, 1989–1990. The number is one of the special period numbers for the former East Germany, a subdivision of 943.1087 Period of East Germany, 1945–1990. An example of a work classed in 943.10879 is The Fall of the Berlin Wall.

The built number 943.1552087 History of East Berlin, 1945–1990 (built with 9 plus T2—431552 Eastern Berlin, following instructions at 930–990, plus 087 from 943.1087 Period of East Germany, 1945-1990, following instructions at 01–09 in the add table under 930–990) has limited use because of its narrow focus on East Berlin.

Historical works that treat broadly the roles of multiple central European countries, including Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia as well as Germany, are classed in 943.0009048 History of central Europe, 1980–1989 (built with 943.00090 plus 48 from T1—09048 1980–1989, following instructions at 943.000901–943.000905 Historical periods of central Europe). An example of a work classed in 943.0009048 is The Year That Changed the World: The Untold Story behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Works that emphasize the immediate effect of the fall of the Berlin Wall on world history are classed in 909.828 World history, 1980–1989. An example of a work classed in 909.828 is The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Revolutionary Legacy of 1989. The work treats the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China.

November 02, 2009

Since his death in September, there have been news stories about Norman Borlaug, e.g., an obituary from the Telegraph that begins:

Norman Borlaug, who died on September 12 aged 95, won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his achievement in promoting the use of more productive cereal strains in order to feed the world’s vast population of the starving; his efforts to introduce hybrid cereal varieties into agricultural production in Pakistan, India, Mexico and other developing countries are estimated to have saved about a thousand million people from dying of hunger.

Borlaug spent his life on the borders of traditional agriculture and biotechnology and stood at the centre of the greatest and most dramatic success stories in world farming — the so-called “Green Revolution” of the 1960s. Perhaps more than anyone else, he was responsible for the fact that throughout the postwar era, except in sub-Saharan Africa, global food production has expanded faster than the human population, averting the mass starvations that were once widely predicted.

But Borlaug’s “Green Revolution” was not “green” in the modern sense. High yields demanded artificial fertiliser, chemical pesticides and new soil technology. As a result of this he was vilified by many in the environmental movement . . . .

There is not space in this blog entry to cover all the specific aspects of agricultural technology touched by Norman Borlaug; two closely related examples will have to suffice. (There is also not space to consider the social, economic, and environmental aspects—fortunate and unfortunate—of the Green Revolution.) Late in his life Borlaug was fighting a new outbreak of wheat stem rust. The May 2009 issue of Science ran a story, “The Famine Fighter's Last Battle,” that began:

On a cold, January morning in 2005, a small plane landed outside the town of Njoro, Kenya, where a handful of scientists waited eagerly as the plane taxied. After the propellers stopped, an old man slowly climbed out and walked across the grassy airstrip. Norman Borlaug, then 91, had come from Nairobi to examine for himself the impact of a highly virulent race of stem rust, called Ug99, a plant pathogen that had recently crossed the border from Uganda and was now threatening wheat farmers around the world.

Few living people—scientists or farmers—had had any experience with outbreaks of stem rust. To Borlaug, however, it was a familiar enemy. After epidemics had devastated wheat fields in Mexico in the 1940s, Borlaug, who was working at an agricultural experiment station in Mexico, bred new varieties of wheat that could resist the disease. These varieties were a key component of the green revolution of the 1960s, helping to boost wheat yields in Mexico and avert famine in India, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Ever since, the world had seemed safe from stem rust. Now, the energetic, tenacious, Nobel Peace Prize–winner is trying once more to defeat the threat.

The Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world's wheat crops as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.

The DDC number for wheat stem rust fungus is 633.119492 Wheat rusts (built with 633.11 Wheat plus 9 Injuries, diseases, pests from add table under 633–635 Specific plant crops, following footnote instruction at 633.11, plus 4 from 632.4 Fungus diseases, following add instruction at 9 in the add table, plus 92 from 579.592 Uredinales [Rusts], following the add instruction at 632.4). An example of a work classed in 633.119492 is Stem Rust of Wheat.

The DDC number for breeding new wheat varieties based on studies of their genetics (as well as genetic engineering of new wheat varieties) is 633.11233 Agricultural genetics of wheat (built with 633.11 Wheat plus 233 from 631.5233 Agricultural genetics, following instructions at 1–6 Cultivation and harvesting from add table under 633–635). An example of a work classed in 633.11233 is Genes for Rust Resistance in Wheat.

December 2016

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